Congressional candidate Bydlak endorsed by Ron Paul

Congressional candidate Rebakah Johansen Bydlak announced Wednesday that she’d won the endorsement of former presidential candidate and libertarian favorite Ron Paul.

Bydlak, 25, is one of nearly a dozen Republican candidates running to succeed Congressman Jeff Miller, who announced earlier this year this the current term would be his last. If elected, Bydlak would be the first woman ever elected to represent Florida’s first Congressional district — which stretches from Escambia to Holmes County — and the youngest woman ever elected to Congress, period.

“I am pleased to endorse Rebekah Bydlak for Congress,” said Paul. “Rebekah’s commitment to, and experience in advancing, the principles of liberty show that she is the type of leader the GOP, Florida, and the country need.”

A twelve-term Congressman, Paul ran for president under the Libertarian Party banner in 1988 and as a Republican in 2008 and 2012. He also founded the Campaign for Liberty advocacy group.

Bydlak, a Cantonment resident and native of McDavid in North Escambia, is a former Florida state chair of Young Americans for Liberty, the youth organization that began as an outgrowth of Congressman Paul’s 2008 Presidential bid. After earning a master’s degree in political science and public administration from the University of West Florida, Bydlak served as Director of Outreach for the Coalition to Reduce Spending, an advocacy organization dedicated to reducing spending and debt.

“I am thrilled and honored to be endorsed by the godfather of the Tea Party,” Bydlak said, “Ron Paul’s name has become synonymous with the defense of the Constitution and reducing the size of government. For years, he fought the good fight in Washington D.C. against career politicians and unconstitutional government overreach, and I am proud to have his support.”